Saudi Arabia Holds Its First Ever Election Open To Female Voters

Saudi Arabia holds first ever election open to women in a tentative step towards easing restrictions on women. The conservative kingdom, where women are banned from driving and must cover themselves in public, is the world's last to give its women the right to vote.

Saturday's municipal polls are open from 8am until 5pm local time (05:00-14:00 GMT). More than 900 women are running for seats. They are up against nearly 6,000 men competing for places on 284 councils whose powers are restricted to local affairs including responsibility for streets, public gardens and rubbish collection.

A strict separation of the sexes in public facilities meant that female candidates could not directly meet the majority of voters - men - during their campaigns. Women also said voter registration was hindered by bureaucratic obstacles, a lack of awareness of the process and its significance, and the fact that women could not drive themselves to sign up.

As a result, less than one in 10 voters are women and few, if any, female candidates are expected to win. But one-third of council seats are appointed by the municipal affairs ministry, leaving women optimistic that they will at least be assigned some of them.

'Not running to win'

Electioneering has been low key, with rules preventing photographs of candidates applied to both men and women. But win or lose, the female contenders say they are already victorious.

"We have legal controls, which forbid the publication of women's photos - during elections and in all our work. And if women's photos are not allowed, it would only be right, fair and equal to ban photos of all candidates", Jadie al-Qahtani, the head of the election's executive committee, said.

"What's more important are the programmes of candidates from both sexes," he was quoted by the Okaz newspaper as saying. Speaking to Al Jazeera hours before polls opened, several women said they felt excited and positive that women are participating, with the hope that society as a whole would benefit from more diversity in public affairs leadership.

"Women here are doctors and engineers - it's not like women aren't there," Lama al-Sulaiman, a candidate in Jeddah, told Al Jazeera. "The international media sometimes has narrow views; they only report the bad stories. We have them, we have weaknesses and every citizen goes through challenges - those shouldn't be belittled.

"But to think that 50 percent of the population is going through those challenges is also ridiculous." Mona Abu Suliman, a media personality and consultant in Riyadh, said that even if women don't win, just going through this process is important. "Recognising women's votes in decision-making is a step towards equality," she said.

"There are people who see women voting and running in the election as another step towards Westernisation. They dislike seeing women in public-facing roles. But I don't think they are in the majority. The majority is either neutral or accepting."

 

SOURCE : THETIMES

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